I don't mean to be a downer, but let's not jump off the deep end

Xavier had an amazing run of success this season, making it to the Elite Eight and winning 30 games. So I suppose that it is natural for fans, media members, and everybody else to have extremely heightened expectations for next year. However, the illusion that Xavier will be back in the Elite Eight or a mainstay in the AP top 10 might only be a pipe dream. Let's analyze this a little bit more:
-Xavier does return five of their top eight players from a season ago in C.J. Anderson, Derrick Brown, B.J. Raymond, Jason Love and Dante Jackson. Granted Anderson, Raymond and Brown will all be in their fourth year at Xavier (with Brown still as a red-shirt junior), but still Xavier will be integrating essentially seven new players next year in the five freshman along with Jamel McLean and Andrew Taylor.
-The Xavier backcourt will go from an average age of 22.5 to 19 when the seniors of Lavender and Burrell are replaced by the freshman point guard that Miller says he wishes to start with (presumably Terrell Holloway) and Dante Jackson at the shooting guard spot. With the way that Xavier's schedule is shaping up the backcourt will be tested early with games against the likes of USC, Missouri, Butler, UC, and Auburn. Thankfully some of the key guys in those backcourts (USC and Butler namely) have moved on to the pro levels of the NBA or Europe but still it generally takes a freshman point guard until the middle of conference play to earn his stripes. Just look at David Gonzalez last year at Richmond. He came in and started for the Spiders from day 1, and after some early troubles turned out to be one of the better lead guards in the A-10. So it is possible that Xavier will be in good shape by the end of the season. It is just a matter of weather the early troubles with an inexperienced backcourt.
- The hope at one time was that some of the pressure of a young backcourt could be eased by increasing the minutes of Adrion Graves. Once a highly touted prospect out of Cincinnati Graves became a spectator for most of the 07-08 season. After rumors of a potential transfer Graves will return for 08-09. He remains the wild-card in that if he is able to find the confidence to step in and score 8-12 points per game off of perimeter jump shots and the occasional penetration in a similar vein as last year's B.J. Raymond than the pressure on Jackson at the 2 guard spot is lightened greatly, in turn lightening the load of the freshman at the point guard spot. However if Graves does not develop into the scorer that he is capable of than Xavier could have a tough time finding their way, especially early in the season.
-The frontcourt seems to be the strength of this Xavier squad. Anderson, Brown, and Love made up the starting lineup for the majority of the season. With the additions of McLean and Kenny Frease it look like the Xavier offense will begin from the post, a focus that will take a few games to fully adjust to.
-Undoubtedly the key to the success in 07-08 was defense. The key to that defense was the ball pressure applied by Stanley Burrell. With Burrell gone the role of defensive stopper falls on two players instead of just one: Dante Jackson in the backcourt and Derrick Brown in the frontcourt. The ability of those two to fill Burrell's shoes as the vocal defensive pressence will determine whether or not the defensive commitment of 07-08 can be duplicated.

The bottom line is that Xavier is essentially reloading in 2008-09. There is an important distinction there in that they are reloading, rather than rebuilding, which only the elite programs in college basketball are able to do. Still it will is a bit premature to expect this team to do the same things that last year's squad did.
I think Phil Martelli put it well after his team fell to Xavier on Feb. 10 this season, saying, "A lot of times teams in our league have two year runs. People say 'How did they get good so quickly?' It's not because of any young kids that they have added.... It's a two year run."
Looking at it that way, the 07-08 season was part II of a two year run, with the first part being a disappointing loss to Ohio State. If you view this year as the first of a two year run then expectations for this Xavier team become a lot more realistic. An NCAA Tournament win would be nice, but that is about a realistic goal for this team. The 09-10 season will be part II of the run and should be looked at to produce better results.
Furthermore, Xavier should not be seen as the obvious favorite in the A-10 just because they have been successful as of late. Teams like Saint Joseph's, Temple, Richmond, Rhode Island and Duquesne are moving into part II of their two year runs, so to speak. Xavier certainly will be in the top of the league, but the experience advantage that some of those squads have over the Musketeers will play a factor throughout conference play.
2008-09 should be a great season for X, but reign in the pipe dreams and just enjoy the youth of this Musketeers squad coming of age. The Final Four talk will remain hot on the back burner for a little while.